“Can we go outside?” I sound like such a child, she told herself. Grow up, El! “I want to see the sunrise. I’ll bet it’s really beautiful here.”

“Yeah, it is,” the artist replied automatically. “Can you wait about five minutes so that I can tell Mom where we’re going and grab a few art supplies?”

“Not a problem,” the Sister replied, happily following him around. Over the past few days, he had been so open, and his family had quickly accepted him as one of their own. She briefly wondered why the family would so openly allow her to stay with them, but she supposed that it was because she had oft been treated with barely-veiled contempt that she was unable to realise their reasoning. It figured, she decided quickly with a slight shrug. Patting down her light blue hair, Elraine smiled gently to herself before following Kiri through the haphazard mess that his room was made up of.

—–double arts—–

“You’re going to see the sunrise? How sweet!” Mrs. Luchile exclaimed, smiling sweetly at her newest ‘child’, so to speak. “Take this, and this, and don’t forget something to drink…” She bustled around the medium-sized kitchen, grabbing food from here, juice from there, and napkins from a container on the leftmost counter. Offering the newly-filled basket to Kiri, she beamed at her son and Elraine, clearly happy to see them both happy.

“Mom, we’re going to be back soon, okay? If Sui stops by, tell her that I’ll be back soon,” Kiri called over his shoulder, walking out the door and leading Elraine to his favourite spot in all of Turm – atop one of the buildings, near the belfry. They had to climb four sets of stairs to get to it, but once they were situated atop the tiled roof, Elraine gasped at the beauty that only a small town like Turm could have right before sunrise. “This is the best spot to watch the town,” he offered, rubbing the back of his neck before pulling out a small pad of blank paper and a charcoal pencil. He quickly began to make a sketch of the waking town as the lights in the houses and buildings around them came on one by one, and he smiled happily as the sun began to crest the hills surrounding them.

“Wow,” the Sister beside him offered, delighting in watching the town come to life. It was a sight beautiful beyond words for someone like her, who had been thrust headlong into a situation in which not only could she not win, but she was fated to lose. Tears welled up in her dark eyes and she fought to suppress them so she wouldn’t impose on Kiri’s trance-like drawing. But no matter how she looked at it, she drew the same conclusion.

She hated Troi, the ‘vanishing disease’. It destroyed towns as peaceful as this one by drawing on a person until they were left to the ravages of the final, painful seizure.

Elraine was able to dimly recall her own cheery hometown; as a small child, she had often run about the village, playing juvenile games like tag and hide-and-go-seek. When she was seven, the Troi virus had hit her town and spread through he uninformed, backwater community like wildfire. And she had been the only survivor.

“-aine. Elraine-chan. Earth to Elraine,” Kiri’s voice told her worriedly, catching her attention. Once the artist saw that he had the Sister’s undivided focus, he gently questioned her. “What’s wrong, El?”

“I hate it,” she replied, only half-listening. “I hate it!” Banging her clenched fist onto the roof, she shook tears out of her eyes and frowned angrily, though it was mostly at herself rather than anything else.

“Whoa,” Kiri breathed. “El?”

“It’s… I’m tired of seeing people die from Troi,” she sighed, turning so that she was looking directly at Kiri. She looked distressed, but he supposed that she was entitled to that much, if nothing else. He set his jaw and reached his free arm out, enveloping her in a comforting embrace. She stiffened for a minute before leaning into the hug. “Thanks, Kiri,” she sighed, wiping her tears away and facing the sunrise.

“Hey, you need someone with you so you’ll survive the trip, right?” She couldn’t see Kiri’s face, but she was sure that he was smiling.

“I guess I’ll come along too,” a feminine voice sighed.

“Sui! What are you doing here?” Elraine quickly broke away from Kiri to watch the black-haired fighter as she sat down next to them.

“Well, if you can’t let go of his hand, he’s not gonna be able to fight as well,” Sui reasoned with a wicked smile. “Maybe I can find some interesting people to fight on the way.”

“But we’ve got a guard coming…”

“There’s no point in arguing with her,” Kiri told her quietly, interrupting her train of thought. “If she says she’ll do something, she’ll do it.” Elraine looked at the newcomer as if to size her up, and wondered why the girl was so obsessed with fighting.

“Yep!” Sui grinned that unnerving smile once again, startling Elraine out of her reverie. “I’ll come with you two anyway. Now, you two lovebirds can have your strawberry talks alone – I’m leaving.” With that, she leapt off the side of the building rather than using the stairs.

“St-Strawberry talks?!” Elraine sputtered, looking to Kiri for help, but he was completely calm.

“That’s just the way she is,” he shrugged, drawing again. “I’d get used to it if I were you.” She just stared at him, and he looked at her, the smile that had been evident in his voice earlier back in full force.

“I’ll try,” she promised, smiling.

“That’s the spirit,” he replied with another wide smile.

Maybe the journey would be survivable with a friend. Just maybe they would reach the cathedral. And maybe… Maybe she would learn to be a real person again, rather than just an untouchable Sister.